Wise Wednesday - Writing an Online Bio - Part 2

Kelly G. Stafford provides marketing and communication services for small businesses. From a long line of artisans, crafters, creators and entrepreneurs, Kelly appreciates all things unique and handmade and understands the challenges of promoting your work while trying to do what you love. Find her shop here.

Writing Space by shutterbugshannon

Previously, I outlined a basic framework to use when writing an online bio for yourself as an artisan. Once you have answered the four basic questions posted last week, review what you have written with the following tips in mind.

• Keep it concise. You only have a couple of seconds to grab the reader’s attention. Don’t be afraid to cut out extraneous or irrelevant material. This will also help to eliminate the common online aggravation of having to continually scroll down.

• Use spell check. Misspelled words are unforgivable. Unfortunately, whether true or not, an easily fixed error such as a misspelled word indicates a lack of attention to detail. If necessary, type your your bio in Word or another word processing program and then cut and paste into the final program. Two invaluable (and free) resources are www.dictionary.com and www.thesaurus.com .

• Lastly, don’t neglect the visual aspect. After you post your bio, view it as a customer would. How does the verbiage look in the available space? Is it visually appealing? Often, simply breaking a long paragraph into multiple smaller paragraphs greatly increases the readability.

Thank you Kelly! I know I am putting these tips to use and I can't wait to learn more from you in the future :)